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As hard as it is to believe, 2024 has come and gone.
Over the last year we upped our football coverage and added basketball into the mix. Between those two sports, we as a staff experienced moments that none of us will ever forget.
We consulted as a group to figure out what our top moments of the year should be. Here are the 10 that we landed on.
ALL-AREA TEAMS: Large Class / Medium Class / Small Class
TWO-WAY STANDOUTS: Presenting the 2024 615 Preps Iron Brigade Team
1. Macon County caps historic run with first football state title
This was by far the easiest choice for this list giving the personal ties a few of our guys have to the town of Lafayette.
The Tigers’ run to the Class 4A championship game was something movies are made on. They avenged regular season losses to Upperman and White County along the way before outlasting Anderson County at home 43-41.
Playing in front of the biggest crowd of the weekend in Chattanooga, the duo of twin brothers Gabe and Zach Borders propelled the Tigers past Melrose 45-14. From there, the celebration was on and the Tigers held gold for the first time ever.
2. Jett Montgomery leads Independence to first basketball state title
Had Macon County not done what they did, this would have been the easy choice at No. 1
What made the championship run special for the Eagles is the fact that they were doing it a year after losing in the championship game. It was also made special by the fact that it was Jett Montgomery’s senior season.
The Eagles closed out the season winning 17 straight games. They beat La Vergne (88-74) and Rossview (65-53) leading up to the 53-44 championship win over Cookeville. Montgomery averaged 25.7 points in those three games.
3. Jared Curtis leads Nashville Christian back to the top of Division II-A
Nashville Christian had been waiting almost a decade to raise a gold ball again. During that period they finished as runners-up twice.
For junior quarterback Jared Curtis, he was a part of one of those teams during his freshman year. Leading the Eagles back to Chattanooga, he made sure that wasn’t going to happen.
Accounting for six total touchdowns, Curtis led the Eagles past Columbia Academy 49-21 for the program’s second state championship. The win capped off a 12-1 season for Nashville Christian.
4. Oakland gets its revenge against Houston
In the pouring rain, Houston dominated Oakland 24-9 in last season’s 6A championship game. The loss ended the Patriots’ three-year reign as state champions.
The Patriots left that silver ball in the weight room all year and used it as motivation.
They put it altogether in this year’s 6A championship as they crushed the Mustangs 42-20 to get back to the top of the mountain. Daune Morris ran for 145 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
5. Hume-Fogg basketball parties like its 1989
The Blue Knights’ rise from obscurity to one of the area’s best programs last season was one of the best stories around. They finished the 2023-2024 season 24-6 a year after they only won five games.
Sitting right on Broadway, tourists walking by the school would have never known that the boys basketball program was in the middle of a renaissance.
Beating Chester County 50-32 in the sectional, Hume-Fogg clinched its first state tournament appearance since 1989.
6. Ravenwood outlasts Oakland in overtime classic
Oakland raised gold at the end of the season but only one team can claim that they beat the eventual state champions during the regular season.
In what was arguably the best game of the season, Ravenwood rallied from a two-touchdown deficit early on to beat the Patriots 32-31 in overtime.
Oakland scored first in overtime and Ravenwood quickly answered with a touchdown of its own. Instead of going for the tie, the Raptors decided to go for the win. Femi Bablola hit Patrick Sullivan on the conversion to give Oakland just its second home loss during the Kevin Creasy era.
7. CPA caps Division II-AA run with another gold ball
Going into the season it was known that this would CPA’s last run in Division II-AA. The Lions put the division and the TSSAA on notice as a result.
They capped off a 14-0 season by beating BGA 38-26. During that run they beat all but two teams by double-digits.
Rawls Patterson had one of the all-time great games in the Lions’ championship win. He finished the day with 336 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries.
8. Green Hill outlasts Mt. Juliet for first unbeaten regular season
Before the season kicked off, we partnered with Green Hill for our first ‘Season With’ project. Little did we know that we’d be following the Hawks through a historic season.
Entering the final week of the regular season, Green Hill and Mt. Juliet were both unbeaten with the region title on the line.
Like a scene straight out of a movie, the two squared off on Halloween night in the pouring rain.
Green Hill led throughout but Mt. Juliet had a chance in the end to win. The Hawks forced a turnover on downs to secure the 12-10 win.
9. Stewarts Creek experiences a series of firsts in win over Smyrna
Stewarts Creek had experienced nothing but heartbreak when it came to playing Smyrna entering 2024. That all changed this season.
With the region title on the line, the Red Hawks dominated the second half to beat the Bulldogs 21-0.
On the same night they ended a 10-season losing streak to their hated rival and claimed their first-ever region title.
10. Westmoreland wins first region title since 2006
They may not have been crowned as state champions, but 2024 was still a year to remember for the Eagles.
Beating East Robertson 7-6 in early October, Westmoreland set itself up to win the region a week later by beating Smith County. They did just that with a 35-6 win over the Owls.
The region title was the program’s first since 2006. They would go on to finish the year 10-3 and were the only team to test eventual state champion Marion County along the way.
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